Even on paper, the D I received second semester of my sophomore year looks like an anomaly. I had just moved back to the states, I jumped from an on-level class my first semester to an honors second semester (which in hindsight was a terrible idea, but I wanted a challenge and it would’ve worked and been fine back overseas) as well as the second half of that semester COVID-19 had caused our school to go all online, destroying any chance at receiving a grade higher than a D. Are there any recommendations on what I could do to “fix” this grad? I’m a senior in high school currently.
Geometry is a UC requirement so a D 2nd semester would require you to retake that semester to be eligible to apply. Since this happened Sophomore year, you have had plenty of time to remediate that grade. At this point if you want to apply to a UC school, you should consider an on-line course that can be completed by end of Senior year and state you are repeating the course on your UC application.
Edited: A standalone Trigonometry course or Pre-Calculus will validate a Geometry course according the validation matrix.
Even switching the grade to a Pass/Fail will not help at this point.
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I agree. Why did you sit on this so long? You’re in senior year now, and applications are due in one month?
You should be working with your counselor, at this point, to try to get a semester of geometry in the Spring. Some people don’t “get” geometry easily, and you may not get a good grade in it, given the time it requires.
I don’t think the UC’s/CSUs are going to accept summer grades from a community college, prior to matriculation.
The UC’s and the CSU’s require the transcripts, from the community colleges, prior to your entrance to the university. (The CSUs start in August.)
It would be too late because the Senior and transfer students, who were “regularly” admitted have, by then, already chosen classes during their Pass sessions and the classes are full.
Also, if you are not a California permanent resident, and didn’t have a full three years of high school in the US, you may not qualify for residency at the UC’s. That means full fee payment of $65k+ a year.
You really need to be working with your counselor. Your school may not offer geometry in the Spring. I worked at a high school that would offer Geometry in the Fall and, maybe, one course of Geometry in the Spring. If your senior schedule is full of AP classes, that can interfere with those classes. Get to your counselor and see if any teacher is offering to teach Geometry in the Spring.
University of California Counselors page 19 says that advanced math (precalculus, trigonometry) can validate grade deficiency (D or F grade) but not omission of geometry.
However, a D in 10th grade will still affect HS GPA calculation for UC unless that semester is repeated for a higher grade during 11th grade.
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@MeuMeuMe:
I am bad… I did not check the UC validation chart posted by @ucbalumnus. I went by the CSU/UC eligibility requirement comparison chart which stated: ** The omission of a geometry course (or a series of integrated math courses containing geometry content) cannot be validated by any higher-level coursework.**
As stated by @ucbalumnus: A grade of C or better in Trigonometry or Pre-calculus validates the entire high school college preparatory requirement** . Integrated style Math 2 will be accepted in lieu of a geometry course. . As also noted, if you do not repeat the 2nd semester, your D will be calculated into your CSU/UC GPA which would negatively affect your chances for admission.
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Yes, in retrospect I should not have waited this long to take care of it, but I had no knowledge that a passing grade in high school could possibly stop me from applying to a college. My options currently are to A. Retake my honors geometry class my second semester of my senior year through my school or online through a college. B. Take a pre-calculus for a semester. or C. Bank on getting the anomaly exempted (which could be likely, based on the situation I was met with during my second semester sophomore year.
Which do you suggest I do for the best outcome?
Am I able to take an online high school geometry course through a college to satisfy this credit, even if the semester I failed was honors? Or do I have to retake the exact class or equivalent through my actual school?
Would there be a chance of exemption from the D my sophomore year? I was moving overseas where the difference between on-level and honors courses is only the workload, whereas here the difference is the pace, workload, and structure (which I was not told about). By day one I was already chapters behind my class, I should’ve dropped the class right then and there but I figured I would be okay since my first semester went fine. I had a chance in raising the grade well above a D but COVID-19 hit our area and sent our whole school online, making it even more difficult to receive help in raising my grade.
For other students in similar situations with geometry courses and UC and CSU frosh admissions:
- Omission of geometry can be validated by a C or higher grade in advanced math (precalculus, trigonometry, calculus) for CSU only. UC does not allow validation of omission of geometry.
- Deficient grade (D or F) in geometry can be validated by a C or higher grade in advanced math (precalculus, trigonometry, calculus) for both CSU and UC.
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To replace the grade, you need to repeat the exact same class. To meet eligibility requirements, you can validate the 2nd semester grade with Pre-calculus or a standalone Trigonometry course taken at a CC or on-line or Calculus.
There is no exemptions sorry, so if you took Pre-calculus or Calculus then your D is validated for Geometry but not replaced.
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As it’s honors, would I have to take honors geometry again or would on-level suffice? On that note, would I be able to take the geometry class through a CC. Pre-calc is probably not going to be an option for me right now.
If the Geometry course is an Honors course, you would have to take a similar Honors course to replace the D. Is the Geometry course a UC approved Honors course based on the a-g articulation?
See below the explanations of grade replacement from the UC Guide:
The replacement (repeat) course must have curriculum similar to the original course (the same content but not necessarily the same title).
• The new grade earned will be used in the GPA calculation. UC does not average the grades. Both grades, however, MUST be reported on the application.
• A regular college-prep course cannot be used as a repeat of a UC-approved honors-level course.
College-level courses that are UC-transferable may be used to repeat approved school-created honors, AP and IB courses
I’m currently not living or have ever lived in California, the a-g course lists honors geometry courses but from California schools only, so my school’s curriculum would be different obviously.
OK, thank you for that information. So you can take a Geometry course that has a similar course content as the “honors” class you originally took, or take a UC transferable Geometry course at a CC. Unfortunately, not being a CA HS student, UC transferability of a CC course out of state may not qualify for grade replacement but would fulfill the Geometry course requirement for eligibility.
You might want to contact UC admissions so see if they can guide on your course choice.
https://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/contact-us.html
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I think at this point, as long as I meet the requirements to actually apply I’ll be happy, I would take a grade replacement as a luxury to be honest.
I plan to call the UC counselors later today and ask about what specific course of action they think would be best for me. As well as if they can direct me to a specific CC that will allow me to fulfill the geometry course credit and maybe replace my grade.
I will also add that not having up to Pre-Calculus on your HS record, will make admission to any of the UC’s very difficult even if you replace the D in Geometry. Although the UC requirement is 3 years up to Algebra2, the majority of applicants will have at least Pre-Calculus completed by Senior to be competitive. Unfortunately the UC’s have become extremely competitive and expect applicants to exceed the minimum requirements.
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I am interested in Political Science and Sociology, would me not having Pre-Calc on my HS record still heavily impact my chances?
If so, I could take pre-calc next semester to not only satisfy the geometry credit but to also have that on my record.
It doesn’t stop you from applying anywhere. You can still apply but It will limit where you are accepted.
What did your counselor say?
For the UC’s and CSU’s a “D” is problematic. It’s closer to an F than an A. Waiting to deal with the problem will be noticeable on the transcript.
From the website: University of California Counselors
To be considered for admission, students must complete 15 A-G courses with a letter grade of C or better — at least 11 of them prior to the last year of high school.
NOTE: All students must complete a geometry course or integrated math with geometry content; no standardized examination will satisfy the geometry requirement.
You need to retake that course. The UCs stress the need for a geometry course or math with geometry content. They expect UC-caliber students, who apply to their schools, to have read the website and be familiar with a strong knowledge of the requirements.
Sorry, but I don’t think you will get an exemption because the pandemic affected everyone negatively, and so many students are citing situations that affected their grades.
You need to discuss this with your counselor and figure out which courses fit the 11 of 15 UC course requirements for grades 9-11.
I have all of my A-G courses fulfilled other than that 0.5 credit of geometry according to the UC schools. I talked it over with my counselors and I think it would be possible to take pre-calc my second semester to satisfy the 0.5 credit I am missing because of the D. Yes, the waiting to deal with it will be evident but actually dealing with it should be better than not dealing with it at all.
By taking pre-calc my second semester, will I then be able to just take off the D in my self-reported grades and replace it with an in-progress pre-calc grade my senior year? Or should all my self-reports be reported no matter what? (probably a dumb question but I’m just making sure I am not missing anything.)
I will still add in my situation in the additional information section to explain why it’s even there in the first place. Going forward, I will still take a replacement course (i.e. Pre-calc) my second semester to meet the requirements.